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Medieval Europe was preoccupied with magic. From the Carolingian Empire to Renaissance Italy and Tudor England, great rulers, religious figures, and scholars sought to harness supernatural power. They tried to summon spirits, predict the future, and even prolong life. Alongside science and religion, magic lay at the very heart of culture.

In this beautifully illustrated account, Anne Lawrence-Mathers explores the medieval fascination with magic through twenty extraordinary illuminated manuscripts. These books were highly sought after, commissioned by kings and stored in great libraries. They include an astronomical compendium made for Charlemagne's son; The Sworn Book of Honorius, used by a secret society of trained magicians; and the highly influential Picatrix. This vivid new history shows how attitudes to magic and science changed over the medieval period--and produced great works of art as they did so.",{"_812":831,"_814":1163,"_785":1164},"audience","Scholarly & Professional",{"_812":831,"_814":844,"_785":1166},"Yale University Press",{"_812":831,"_814":819,"_785":1168},"Trade Cloth",{"_812":831,"_814":849,"_785":1170},"Hardback",{"_812":831,"_814":852,"_785":853},{"_812":831,"_814":1064,"_785":1173},"PSYCHOLOGY",{"_812":831,"_814":855,"_785":1175},"2025-03-11",{"_812":831,"_814":858,"_785":1177},"368",{"_812":861,"_814":724,"_785":862},{"_812":861,"_814":868,"_785":866},{"_812":861,"_814":870,"_785":866},{"_812":861,"_814":875,"_785":1182},"21/10/2025",{"_812":861,"_814":880,"_785":1184},"72.0",{"_812":861,"_814":885,"_785":1186},"1",{"_812":888,"_814":889,"_785":1188},"World History,Magic",{"_812":888,"_814":724,"_785":1190},"World History;Magic",{"_812":888,"_814":895,"_785":1192},"WORHIS,MAGIC",{"_812":888,"_814":899,"_785":1194},"WORHIS;MAGIC",{"_812":888,"_814":901,"_785":1196},"GLOBAL HISTORY,NON FICTION",{"_812":888,"_814":906,"_785":1198},"GLOBAL HISTORY;NON FICTION",{"_812":888,"_814":908,"_785":1200},"HISTORY,NON FICTION",{"_812":888,"_814":913,"_785":1202},"HISTORY;NON FICTION",{"_812":888,"_814":915,"_785":916},{"_812":888,"_814":918,"_785":1111},{"_812":888,"_814":920,"_785":921},{"_812":888,"_814":925,"_785":921},{"_762":1208},[1209],{"_765":109,"_766":-5,"_123":1210,"_203":1211,"_776":1215,"_782":1216,"_17":1139,"_786":1218,"_788":1219},"gid://shopify/ProductVariant/45218041364677",{"_769":1212,"_771":772,"_123":1213,"_758":1142,"_774":1214},"The Magic Books Cover Image","gid://shopify/ProductImage/39714893365445",1331,{"_778":779,"_780":1184},[1217],{"_745":746,"_785":1139},"9780300244434",{"_790":1220},[1221],{"_793":1222},{"_795":109,"_126":1223},{"_745":722},{"_123":1225,"_17":1226,"_735":1227,"_756":1228,"_809":1230,"_760":1280},"gid://shopify/Product/8398737801413","Genius Myth: The Dangerous Allure of Rebels, Monsters & Rule-Breakers","genius-myth-the-dangerous-allure-of-rebels-monsters-rule-breakers",{"_758":1229},"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0625/6679/3413/files/978-1-78733-325-3.jpg?v=1755101576",[1231,1232,1234,1235,-5,1237,1238,1239,-5,1241,1243,1245,1247,1249,1251,1252,-5,-5,1253,1255,1257,-5,1259,-5,1260,1261,-5,1262,-5,1264,-5,1266,1268,-5,1269,1270,-5,1271,1272,-5,1273,1274,-5,1275,1276,-5,1277,1278,-5,1279],{"_812":813,"_814":17,"_785":1226},{"_812":813,"_814":816,"_785":1233},"LEWIS HELEN",{"_812":813,"_814":819,"_785":820},{"_812":813,"_814":822,"_785":1236},"JONATH",{"_812":813,"_814":828,"_785":829},{"_812":831,"_814":832,"_785":833},{"_812":831,"_814":17,"_785":1240},"The Genius Myth",{"_812":831,"_814":816,"_785":1242},"Helen Lewis",{"_812":831,"_814":842,"_785":1244},"

*A Guardian, Financial Times, New Statesman and GQ Book for 2025 *
*From the Sunday Times bestselling author of Difficult Women*

'Brilliant, timely and compulsively readable. Helen Lewis shows how the idea of genius has warped our understanding of human creativity - and why people of vast accomplishment in one domain can prove so destructively clueless in others.' OLIVER BURKEMAN

The tortured poet. The rebellious scientist. The monstrous artist. The tech disruptor.

You can tell what a society values by who it labels as a genius. You can also tell who it excludes, who it enables, and what it is prepared to tolerate.

Taking us from the Renaissance Florence of Leonardo da Vinci to the Floridian rocket launches of Elon Musk's SpaceX, Helen Lewis unravels a word that we all use -- without really questioning what it means.

Along the way, she uncovers the secret of the Beatles' success, asks how biographers should solve the Austen Problem, and reveals why Stephen Hawking thought IQ tests were for losers (before taking one herself). And she asks if the modern idea of genius -- a class of special people -- is distorting our view of the world.

'Lucid, funny and fascinating' ADAM BUXTON

'An indispensable companion to our times' CAROLINE CRIADO PEREZ

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A New Statesman Best Book of the Year 2023. A Waterstones Book of the Year 2023. An Economist Book of the Year. One of Smithsonian Magazine's Ten Best History Books of 2023. A BBC History Magazine Book of the Year 2023. Winner of the Voltaire Medal.

'An untold story of colonial history, both epic and intimate, and a thrilling revelation' Adam Rutherford

'Mind-blowing . . . this is how history should be told' Benjamin Zephaniah

In this groundbreaking new history, Caroline Dodds Pennock recovers the long-marginalised stories of the Indigenous Americans who - as enslaved people, diplomats, explorers, servants and traders - left a profound impact on European civilisation in the 'Age of Discovery'. On Savage Shores is a sweeping account of power and influence in America and Europe - one which could forever change the way we understand our global history.

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History's Strangest Deaths: A Half-arsed History Book

A Half-Arsed History Book

by Riley Knight